INTRODUCTION
Welcome to Retail Done Right. These Show Notes accompany our Season 2, Episode 5 podcast, “Diversity & Inclusion”
Diversity and inclusion must go beyond the time constraints of Black History Month, the new Juneteenth Federal Holiday and Pride Month, amongst others. This needs to be every day. We discuss the relevance of these “months” and just how important it is to practice diversity and inclusion every day, in every decision.
There are numerous through lines between Diversity & Inclusion and Trust, which we discussed in our last podcast. In Episode 5, discuss just how important it is to practice diversity and inclusion every day, in every decision.
DIVERSITY & INCLUSION
Ai Weiwei, the brilliant artist and activist, recently posted a video on Instagram that caught our attention. In his short video, he says, “Every day should be Human Rights Day.”
This post really says it all. Based on Cristene’s research around sustainability for the IBM Institute for Business Value, more and more people are feeling the way Ai Weiwei describes. This is encouraging.
There’s a beautiful through-line from our last podcast where we discuss Retailers & Trust. As we discussed, Craig Jelinek, the CEO of Costco puts his people first so they can put their customers first. His approach is the perfect connection point:
- Treat employees fairly
- Lead with respect
- Practice empathy
If this was practiced daily, we’d be closer in making every day Human Rights Day.
We share a few additional examples of this in practice, including Sephora’s Accelerate brand incubator program, which focuses exclusively on brand founders of color, the 15 Percent Pledge, founded by Aurora James, which came from the idea to move beyond one-time donations and to create longer-lasting change at retailers that would then have a longer-term impact on black-owned businesses, The Initiative, which is an accelerator program, business bootcamp and funding resource for female founded cannabis businesses and Kroger’s accelerator for supply chain diversity.
Pride Month, Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month have deep history and they came about for good reasons. Jeff stepped back for a moment and discussed some of the history of Pride Month.
Cristene referenced a Forbes.com article by our friend, Shelley E. Kohan where she interviewed Alison Maitland and Rebekah Steele, the authors of the book, Indivisible: Radically Rethinking Inclusion For Sustainable Business Results. “Diversity is the vast mix of individual identities, talents, perspectives and experiences in the world and the workforce.”
“Inclusion is seizing the opportunities of that rich mix. It is about achieving sustainable positive results for business and society by creating and maintaining environments in which every voice is heard, every person matters, and everyone has what they need to flourish while contributing to shared goals. Inclusion is essential. Without it, diversity remains unfulfilled potential.”
RESEARCH AND LINKS
· 3 Ways the CEO of Costco, Craig Jelinek, Puts His People First
· Sephora Announces BIPOC Brand Founders For 2022 Accelerate Program
· Sephora Signs ‘15 Percent Pledge’ to Carry More Black-Owned Brands (paywall)
· https://intheinitiative.com/
· Retailers leverage open calls to add diversity, sustainability to supply chains
- Was the “Summer of 2020” a turning point? Reflecting on race, racism and the inclusion & diversity agenda
- Make Pride a Commitment, Not Just a Campaign (paywall)
- Whether it’s rainbow capitalism or bad design, LGBTQ people are calling out disingenuous Pride merchandise
- Indivisible: Radically Rethinking Inclusion For Sustainable Business Results.
- Companies Need to Radically Rethink Diversity And Inclusion
CONCLUSION
“Without [inclusion], diversity remains unfulfilled potential.” This summarizes our opportunity beautifully.
Cristene wrapped up our discussion with practical steps retailers should take to live diversity and inclusion every day and fold this approach into every decision.
Let’s go shopping!
Jeff Fisher & Cristene Gonzalez-Wertz
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RETAIL DONE RIGHT is produced and hosted by Jeff Fisher & Cristene Gonzalez-Wertz